Melinda Gates' campaign: Contraception can save millions of women

BY JOEL CONNELLY, SEATTLEPI.COM

Published 11:43 am, Wednesday, July 11, 2012

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Melinda Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, applauds during the London Summit on Family Planning organized by the UK Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, in London.

Melinda Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, applauds during the London Summit on Family Planning organized by the UK Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and Melinda Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, talk during the London Summit on Family Planning organised by the UK Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) in London.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and Melinda Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, talk during the London Summit on Family Planning organised by the UK Government and

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, center, Melinda Gates, 4th right, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, 2nd left, talk during the London Summit on Family Planning organised by the UK Government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) in central London, Wednesday July 11, 2012.

A London summit, co-hosted by the Seattle-based Gates Foundation, on Wednesday launched a $4 billion global program designed to give 120 million more women access to contraceptives by the year 2020, a goal Melinda Gates has described as "giving women the power to save their lives."

Gates, a practicing Catholic, is under fire from right-wing church groups because of her support for contraception, but has cited her conversations with women in the Third World as well as a recent survey showing that 82 percent of America's Catholics support artificial birth control despite their opposition from their hierarchy.

In an April speech in Berlin, Gates talked about her education by Ursuline nuns as well as goals of the family planning program, saying: "We are not talking about abortion, we're not talking about population control. What I'm talking about is giving women the power to save their lives, and save their children's lives, and to give their families the best possible future."

The International Family Planning Conference in London, which drew 250 delegates, is co-hosted by Britain's Department of International Development.

"This is a breakthrough for the world's poorest girls and women, which will transform lives now and for generations to come," Andrew Mitchell, Britain's Secretary of State for International Development, said in launching the program.

Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy.

Gates, a mother of three, discussed contraception and the Church with the Guardian. In his 1966 encyclical Humae Vitae, Pope Paul VI rejected the recommendation of an advisory panel and condemed artificial birth control. Pope Benedict XVI has barely opened the door to condom use, saying it is a way for male prostitutes to avoid transmitting the HIV virus.

"A church is made up of its members, and one of the things this campaign might do is help women speak out," Gates said. "I've had thousands of women come on to websites and say, 'I'm a Catholic but I believe in contraception.'

"It's going to be women voting with their feet. In my country, 82 percent of Catholics say contraception is morally acceptable. So let the women of America decide. The choice is up to them."

"Of course I wrestled with this. As a Catholic, I believe in this religion. There are amazing things about this religion, amazing moral teachings that I do believe, but I also have to think about how we keep women alive. I believe in not letting women die. I believe in not letting babies die, and to me that's more important than arguing about what method of contraception (is right)."

Gates has been denounced by Judie Brown, head of the American Life League, who has also faulted Catholic bishops for "never reprimanding anyone." Brown has argued that a Catholic who supports contraception "cannot in good conscience receive holy communion."

As to Melinda Gates, Brown added, "the fact is that her bishop has had many, many opportunities to teach her" but hasn't. Several anti-abortion web sites have carried a similar message.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said Wednesday it is putting $560 million over four years into the contraception program. The governments of Australia, France, Germany, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom also made financial commitments.

The London conference stressed the theme -- right-wing Catholic websites withstanding -- that "contraceptives are not controversial" and even announced the launching of a web site entitled www.no-controversy.com.

Contraception has been a surprise issue in the 2012 presidential nomination race. Ex-Sen. Rick Santorum, runner up in the Republican nomination contest, has condemned the pill as encouraging promiscuity and sex before marriage.

Conservative U.S. Catholic bishops have picked a fight with the Obama administration, suing to stop a requirement that church-affiliated hospitals and universities include birth control coverage in health care plans offered to employees. The administration sought a compromise in which health insurers would bear the costs. Bishops rejected it.